Distance
by Faberrittanainthetardis
Summary: From a Tumblr prompt: Spencer likes Emily as more than a friend and as a consequence starts acting distant around her. Until they spend the night alone together in Ali's old room.


"Thanks for coming over." Emily said yet again as she walked into Alison's room after Spencer. She closed the door behind them, more so Mrs. DiLaurentis wouldn't hear what they were saying than anything else. "This place really gives me the creeps."

Spencer glanced around the room and internally shuddered. The room was almost just as Alison had left it, right down to the way her bed was made. "It's fine, I didn't want you to stay here alone anyway and since Hanna and Aria are probably busy…" she left her sentence hanging, opting to take a seat on the edge of the bed.

"Actually you're the first person I called." Emily awkwardly corrected. She shoved her hands into her back pockets and glanced around the room, recalling the times they'd all been there with Ali. "This is so surreal. Being back in this room when Ali's…"

Spencer nodded when Emily trailed off, obviously unwilling to finish the sentence. "I know, I'm trying not to think about it too much. If I do there's no way I'm going to be able to stay in this room tonight."

Emily shot Spencer a small smile. "I wish I had your mental block."

Spencer returned the smile weakly, her mind elsewhere. "It's easier to put up a mental block if you're unconscious." With that said she leaned down and tugged her shoes off, placing them neatly to the side.

"Is that some kind of threat to knock me out?" Emily teased lightly, trying to keep the conversation going. The atmosphere between herself and Spencer was strangely tense and it was making her uncomfortable.

"Only if you ask me to." Spencer responded, glancing briefly up at Emily with a small smile before she turned her attention back to removing her clothes for bed.

Emily bit her lip at the simple response but turned her back to Spencer, pretending to look at something on Alison's desk. In shorts and a dark tank top she was already dressed for bed.

"You don't have to do that you know."

"What?" Emily asked without turning around. She lightly ran her finger over a framed picture on Alison's desk. It showed Alison, Spencer, Emily, Aria and Hanna sitting on the beach. Emily found that she couldn't even remember when the picture had been taken, it seemed like a lifetime ago.

"Turn away." Spencer answered simply, though the casual tone of her voice was clearly forced. "You don't have to do that for my sake."

"Oh, I just thought…" Emily turned around, feeling her face heat up at the fact that Spencer had noticed what she was doing. "Never-mind, it's not important."

Spencer nodded silently and pulled a light grey t-shirt over her head. She moved over to the bed and slipped in on the right side, pulling the covers securely around her. Emily stood awkwardly near Alison's desk for a moment before she turned the light off and slowly moved towards the bed, slipping under the covers on the other side. They lay there in tense silence for a moment until Emily sighed and turned onto her back. A quick glance at Spencer informed her that Spencer either hadn't noticed the movement or she was choosing to ignore it. She was still facing away from Emily, gripping tightly to the covers.

"Spencer, are you awake?" Emily whispered unsurely.

"Hmmm." Spencer merely hummed in response, without so much as turning over to face Emily.

Emily waited for a moment for Spencer to say something else, to ask her what was wrong, to tell her to go to sleep, anything but the silence she received. "Are you mad at me or something?"

"No."

"Spencer!" Emily's voice came out louder than she intended it to and she glanced towards the door, mindful of Alison's mom sleeping down the hall. She turned back to Spencer and anxiously bit her lip. She had no idea what was going on but the distance Spencer had been putting between them for the past few days was making her nervous.

"Emily, just forget about it and go to sleep okay? I'm just tired, that's all."

"No it's not, you've been avoiding me for days." Emily accused, forcing herself to lower her voice. "Just tell me what I did wrong so I can try to fix it. You know I hate when you're mad at me."

"Emily…" Spencer exhaled softly and slowly turned over so that she was facing Emily. "Trust me, there's nothing you can do to fix this."

Emily visibly flinched at the statement, her heart tightening with momentary panic. "So I did do something to make you mad at me."

"No. I'm not mad, I'm just…" Spence trailed off for a moment, trying to figure out what it was she was doing. "I'm just trying to figure things out, that's all."

"Like what?"

"Look Em…I don't want to lose you as a friend but…it's difficult right now."

"Spencer you're really freaking me out." Emily said, her heart thumping wildly against her chest. She didn't like where the conversation was going, it almost seemed like Spencer was saying that their friendship was over. Something Emily had thought would never happen with any of her friends. "What are you saying?"

"I'm saying it's hard to be around you without…" Spencer's eyes dropped briefly to Emily lips but Emily didn't even seem to notice, too distracted by the idea of what Spencer might be about to say.

"What?" Emily pressed anxiously, shifting closer to Spencer.

"Without…" Spencer licked her lips, her gaze lingering on Emily's lips. "Without…"

"Spencer, please just say whatever…" Emily was promptly cut off by Spencer closing the distance between them to lightly press their lips together. Emily stiffened for a moment, having not expected the sudden kiss but she quickly relaxed at the sensation of Spencer's lips moving against her own and tentatively reciprocated. Her hand flitted to Spencer's cheek as she pressed closer, deepening the kiss before finally coming to her senses and pulling back by a couple of inches.

"Spencer?" Emily whispered, slightly breathless from the kiss. Spencer stared back at her, nervously chewing her lip. "Did you…did you just kiss me to shut me up?"

Spencer shook her head. "I just wanted to kiss you. I've wanted to kiss you since I got here."

"Oh…wow." Emily muttered, surprised by the answer. "This is why you've been avoiding me for the past few days? Because you um…"

"I like you." Spencer concluded apprehensively. "I _really_ like you. No, I _love_ you…as more than a friend. I didn't want you to know because I don't want things to be awkward between us. I know you don't feel the same and now that you know tha…"

"You know that I don't feel the same?" Emily asked expectantly. "You know that for a fact?"

Spencer stared at Emily in confusion. "I don't think I understand Em."

"Do you want to be with me?" Emily asked outright, her thumb moving to trace Spencer's lips. Spencer's lips parted slightly at the action and Emily was momentarily distracted.

"I do." Spencer said finally.

Emily smiled softly and leaned close to press a light kiss to Spencer's lips. "I want to be with you too."

"You do?" Spencer was too surprised to even return the quick kisses being pressed to her lips.

"I do." Emily confirmed quietly. "Now shut up and kiss me okay? You have to make up for all of the dis…"

Spencer quickly cut Emily off with a firm kiss. Making up was definitely what she planned to do.

THE END.


End file.
